Emergency governing mechanism for turbines.



E. P. DUTTON. v EMERGENCY GOVERNING MECHANISM FOR TUE INEsE APPLIOATION FILED JUNE18, 1909. V 96Q 289, Patented June 7, 1910.

2 sEEETssEEET 1.

r LO (\1 Witnesses: inventor":

W4 e Edgar- Fig/L tton,

E. F. BUTTON EMERGENCY GOVERNING MECHANISM EOE TURBINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 18,1909.

Patented June 7, 1910.

Z SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Witnesses:

EDGAR F. BUTTON, OF

COMPANY,

SCHENECTADY. NEW YORK. ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL ELECTRIC A CORPORATIONCF NEW YORK.

EMERGENCY GOVERNING MECHANISM FOR TURBINES.

Application filed June 18. 1909.

To all whom it may concern:

ie it known that 1. Roma 1. DIT'ITUN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Schenectady, in the county ot' Schenectady. State ot' New York, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Emergent-y Governing Meehanisms tor Turbines,

of which the following is a specification.

- tion. The one tion, l igure 1 is a side view of a iatch moved by the speed governor 'lhis'im'eution relat s to elastic fluid turbines and its object is the provision of mechanism t'or sa'leguarding a turbine against injury due to abnormal pressure within any given region ol the. turbine. and particularly within what might be called the low pressure stage or stages of a multi-stage turbine. and against injury due to almormal or excessive speed of rotation. To accomplish this end said mechanism operates to automatically shut otl the supply of motive fluid to the turbine whenever a predeterlnined sat'e pressure or speed is exceeded. it can. however. be manually operated when nm-ess.-u-y.aml the presstu'e-respousive met-h anism can be used with or without the other mechanism as desired.

in the accompanying drawings illustrating one of the emlmdiments of my inventurbine with parts in section; and Fig. 2 is an end view of the turbine showing certain parts in section on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

In the turbine chosen to illustrate the invention the. rotor is carried by a shaft 23 mounted in bearings -l supported by a bedplate The. shaft 3 drives an electric generator (3 or other load. Steam or other motivetluid is conveyed to the steam chest T of the turbine by a pipe 8 leading from any suitable source of supply. Located in the pipe line 8 is a combined emergency and throttle valve 0t any well known construcshown is ot the so-called slid lug .nut type. "wherein the nut" is normally held in position by relate-h or trigger, which when it is desired to have the valve close suddenly. This valve can be manually operated by means of the hand wheel 10 and its screwthreaded stem and nut to control the flow ot steam through the pipe 8. and it. can also be tripped to close suddenly unde'r emen geney conditions by mechanism to be described later. Obviously separate valves could be em )loyed to perform each of these functions it desired. The exhaust steam Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 7, 1910.

Serial No. 502,940.

from the turbine is led away from the pipe 11 to a condenser or to the atmosphere, as preferred.

The admission of motive fluid from the steam chest 7 to the interior of the turbine to drive the. turbine rotor can be controlled by any suitable governing mechanism (not shown) which proportions the supply of energy to the load and thus maintains the speed ot rotation constant. Under some conditions this automatic governing mechanism can be omitted and the speed controlled by throttling the supply of steam to the rotor by a suitable hand valve or valves. The valve 9 might be used for this purpose under some circumstances.

Under normal operating conditions a latch or trigger 12 holds the valve 9 open in any position to which it may have been ad? justed by the wheel 10. This valve has a constant tendency to close, due to unbalanced steam pressure or gravity or both.

The valve may be assisted in its closing operation by any suitable type of motor or nieelnuiism or a combination of the two. The rod or link 13 has at one end a sliding and pivotal connection with the arm 14 of the latch 12. The other end of the rod 13 is pivotally connected with a. lever or arm 15 on a shaft. 1o mounted in bearings on one oi the pillow blocks 4. The shaft 16 also carries an arm 17 that engages a trigger 01' lever 18 pivoted at 19 on the casing 20. The parts 15, 1(3 and 17, together form a sort of bell-crank lever. The spring 21' tends to turn this levt about. its pivot and it is normally held against turning by the trigger l3. Mounted on the shaft 3 within the casing is an emergency speed governing device 22 ot any approved construction. One end of the trigger 18 projects through an opening in the easing into rather close proximity to the governor 22.

\Vhen the speed of the turbine rises above a predetern'iined sate limit the governor strikes against the adjacent end of the trigger and releases the beltcrank lever 15, 16,

- 17 from its restraint. The spring 21 is then tree to move the rod 13 in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 2, and through said rod to release the latch 19. to permit the valve 9 to close suddenly.'thereby shutting off the supply of steam to the turbine. The sliding connection between the end of the'a'od 13 and the arm 14 causes the spring 21 to impart a hammer blow to the latch, thus inuring the (puck effective release of said latch. Mic y crnor illuv ttt-il includes two clock springs dua ly oc upy the poisitions shown Vr'hen the speed of the turbine vies above the predctermined safe limit, the ends oi the springs move out ward under the influence of centrifugal force and strike the projecting end of trigger 18, thereby tripping the latch and closing valve 9 in the manner above described.

The mechanism illustrated for shutting down the turbine when the steam pressure in any given region thereof rises above a desir able or safe limit includes a cylinder 24 cormectcd at one end with said region. 1 piston 25 is mounted in the cylinder. The outward movement ofth piston is opposed by a spring 26 surrounding the piston rod 5]? and interposed between the piston and the head "38 of the cylinder. The outer end of the piston rod carrier; a rack 35) that meshes with a pinion 30 carried by a shalt 31 mounted in suitable bearings and extending longitudinally of the turbine. The end of the shaft I'll adjacent; the emergency governor :22 provided with an arm or lever 32. The trigger in has an arm 3? which extends downward so that its outer end is adjacent the end of the arm 32. When the pressure on the piston 25 rises sufiicicntly to overcome the spring Qt the piston moved outward causing the rack 29 to rotate the pinion I30 and the shaft 31. c s around The arm on swi with the shatt and strikes the arm 33 of the trigger, thereby tripping the lever l5, i l. 17

and permitting the sprin it to release the I emergency valve and permit it to close, as i described above in connection with the ole ing of the valve by the emergency speed governor. Obviously the prcssure-responsive mechanism can be used without the speedresponsive mechanism if desired.

The end of the arm 33 is placed in a readily accessible location, so that the trig ger 18 can also be manually operated, thus permitting the attendant to quickly close the valve 9 and shut down the turbine when de sired. The lever arm 15 provided with a handle .31 to facilitate the resetting of the 'valvtrtripping mechanism in the position shown in the drawing.

The cylinder 24: may be connected with any desired region of the turbine. in the drawings it is shown as arranged to receive the pressure of the low pressure or exhaust 'stage of the turbine, but'it can be connected to any other stage or regioi'i ot' a turbine as required by the operating conditions.

My invention is not limited to the part icular form or arrangementot mechanism illustrated for transmitting motion from the piston to trip the emergency valve. Levers, or other equivalent devices, can be substidenly under emergency conditions,

oeazcc stagt or region may 1 a due to various CilllnCS, such as, among others, the loss of vacuum in the condenser of a condensing turbine installation, or the obstruction of the turbine exhaust by the tailureof the attendant to properly open the valves in the exhaust conduits, or the obstruction of the pipes taking steam from one of the intermediate stages of a turbine for industrial purposes, or to the failure of the regulating mechanism in a mixed pressure turbine to properly control the admision of high pressure motive lluid to said turbine.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have described the principlc oi operation o'l: my invention, together with the apparatus which l now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof; but I. deeirc to have it understood that the ap paratus shown is only illustrative, and that the invention can be carried out by other means.

li hat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. In combination, a turbine, a conduit for supplying motive lluid from a suitable source to the turbine, a valve for controlling the ilow of motive lluid through the conduit to the turbine, and means responsive to a rise in pressure 1 bore a predetermined limit in a given region of said turbine which etl'ects the closing of said valve down the turbine.

E2. in combination, a turbine, a conduit for supplying motive fluid to the turbine. a valve for controlling the flow through the conduit which can be manually opened and closed slowly for normal ,opcration and closed suddenly under emergency conditions, and means responsive to a rise of pressure above a predetermined, limit, in a given region of the turbine which etl'ects the sudden closing of said valve and thereby shuts" down the turbine.

3. in combination, a turbine, a conduit for supplying motive fluid to the turbine, a valve for controlling the ilow through the conduit which can be tripped to close suddenly under emergency conditions, a device responsive to a rise in pressure above a pre determinedlimit in agiven region of the turbine which ell'ects the tripping of said valve and thereby shuts down the turbine, and means for manually tripping said valve to shut down the turbine when desired.

4. In combination, a turbine, a valve for controlling the supply of motive tluid to the turbine which can be tripped to close sudand means responsive to a predetermined rise of and thereby shuts pressure in a given region of the lilll'blllt) which eiiccts the tripping of said valve and thereby shuts down the turbine, said means including a member which tends to'move un der the influence ot'the pressure in said region and a device which opposes its movement.

5. In combination, a turbine,e valve "for controlling the supply of motive tiuid to the turbine, mechanism. for tripping the valve to close it suddenly under emergency conditions, a lever pivoted adjacent the trip ping mechanism, and a device responsive to a predetermined rise of pressure in a given region oi the turbine which moves said lever and causes it to bring said tripping mechanism into action to thereby close the valve.

6. In combination, a turbine, a valve for controlling the supply of motive tluid to the turbine, mechanism for tripping the valve to close it suddenly under emergeinty .conditions, a lever pivoted adjacent the tripping mechanism, a device responsive to a predetermined rise of pressure in a given rcglon of the turbine Wlllcll moves said lever and causes it to bring said tripping mechanism into action to thereby close the valve, said device including a member which tends to move under the influence of the pressure in said region and a spring which opposes its movement;

7. In combination, a turbine, a. valve for shutting off the supply of motive fluid to the turbine, mechanism for tripping the valve to close it suddenly under emergency conditions, and a device responsive to a predetermined rise of pressure in a given region of the turbine which etl'ects the trip ping of said valve. and thereby shuts down the turbine, said device inchiding a cylinder connected with said region.a piston in the cylinder which tends to move in a given direction under the influence of the pressure in said region, a spring which opposes the movement of the piston, and means actuated by the movement of the piston which brings the tripping mechanism into action.

8. In combination, a turbine, a valve for shutting oft the supply of motive fluid to the turbine, mechanism for tripping the valve to close it suddenly under emergency conditions, and a device responsive to a pie determined rise of pressure in a given region of the turbine which etl'ect-s the tripping of said valve and thereby shuts down the turbine, said device including a cylinder con- 'anism.

nected at one end \vithsaid re ion, a piston in the cylinde which tends to movein a given direction under the influence ot the pressure in said region, a piston rod, a spring which opposes the movement of the piston and rod, a lever adjacent the tripping mechanism, a rotatable shaft on which the lever is mounted, and means connecting the piston rod and the shaft whereby the movement of said rod swings the lever about its pivot and causes it to release the tripping mechpressure in a given region of the turbine which operates the trigger to cause it to release the emergency valve, a device responsive to a predetermined increase in the speed 01" the turbine which operates said trigger to release said valve, and means for manually operating trigger to cause it to release said valve.

11. In combination, a turbine, a valve for controlling the supply of motive l'luid to the turbine including a tripping device by means of which the valve can be closed, and means responsive to the pressure in a given region ot the turbine which operates the tripping device to close the valve when said pressure rises above a predetermined limit.

12. in combination, turbine, a valve for controlling the supply of motive fluid to the turbine which has a tendency to close, a trigger for holding the valve open against said tendency, and means responsive to the pressure in a given region of the turbine which releases'thc valve from the control of the trigger and permits said valve to close when said pressure rises above a predetermined limit.

in Witness whereof, it have hereunto set my hand thi, 17th day of June, 1909.

' ldDGuil-t F. BUTTON.

l v itnesses: V

BENJAIKHN B. HULL, iinnnn Onronn, 

